VANCOUVER—Tuesday was all about turning over a new leaf for the Vancouver Canucks.

The team wanted to roll out its new coach and ease him into the new market. A morning YouTube session with fan questions focused on the lighter side of John Tortorella. He talked of the Seawall and Grouse Grind, two distinctive, attractive features of the city.

John Tortorella's personal style differs from his predecessor in Vancouver, but beyond that, the similarities stack up. (AP Photo)

Meeting a couple hours later with assembled media, the Canucks officially introduced Tortorella as the 17th coach in franchise history. Tortorella is cast in the wool as a difference face than his predecessor Alain Vigneault. Vigneault was a player's coach, who reportedly let the veteran leadership control the room.

Tortorella on Tuesday stressed accountability. He stressed the process of turning prospects and minor leaguers into true professionals. He stressed that Henrik and Daniel Sedin, the two offensive stars in Vancouver since the last lockout, might kill penalties—and that they'll have to block shots.

So if there was a theme, it was change. A softened coach, but still a stronger personality in this particular room, leading to a stiffer team with an attitude more conducive to postseason wins.

Tactically, however, there hasn't been much difference between the way Tortorella and Vigneault have conducted their business over the last two seasons. Tortorella is characterized as a defensive mind, but as he said, there is no coach in the NHL that doesn't want to get more from his offense.

"I think a big part of a coach is putting his players in situations where they can succeed," Tortorella said. What he meant was that he would generally use his scoring forwards in a more favorable situational role. Rick Nash, for instance, was on the ice for 300 offensive zone faceoffs in the 2013 season compared to just 199 in the defensive zone. Checking center Brian Boyle, by contrast, started 103 shifts in the offensive end but 166 in the defensive end, according to behindthenet.ca.

"Situations in games always dictate certain things, momentum of games," Tortorella said. "Sometimes the players you're counting on might not be going that night. But that's a big part of my job, to ensure that I'm getting the right people on the ice at the right times.

"I think coaches coach the players that they're given," Canucks GM Mike Gillis said. "Like Alain. Alain was cast as a defensive coach when I got here, and we led the league in scoring two years in a row."

The Sedins benefited from the Vigneault zone deployment strategy for three years. The minutes are going to get tougher. Henrik accepted a more defensive role last season because the Canucks were so thin down the middle, and is fine with being even less sheltered this upcoming season.

Not only will he kill penalties, but he said on Tuesday that he asked for the role, and that he and his brother enjoyed doing that under Marc Crawford a decade ago as rookies.

Sedin and Sedin will be counted on more defensively, but compared to other players in the league, they will also continue to get a lot of offensive zone opportunities. Gillis said that he is in the process of bringing Tortorella up to speed on the research and analytics the Canucks have used themselves.

"I did work Alain, and we are working with John," Gillis said. "we're educating him more about some of the philosophy that we have here. He's extremely open to it, in fact, is eager to get involved and eager to learn more."

So the theme of the press conference was change, for both the face of the team and the man who is going to lead it going forward, but the Canucks are still set in their ways. The tactics will be familiar, but the style in which they're presented will be different.

Cam Charron is a hockey journalist and managing editor with The Nation Network, a Sporting News partner.